VADER DOWN – Full Crossover Series Review

All hail the Dark Lord of the Sith! Darth Vader is the quintessential bad ass and the anchor of the massive Star Wars Universe. We all know his character well because we’ve seen it all: his origin, his tragic descent/transformation, his ruthless enforcement, and his ultimate redemption. Vader is a good enough character that even after seeing all these character highlights, it’s easy to feel like you still haven’t seen enough. Thankfully, Marvel has us covered with their ongoing superb treatment of the Star Wars Universe.

VADER DOWN was their first “crossover” event which started as a standalone issue then continued split between their ongoing STAR WARS and DARTH VADER comic arcs. The full arc takes place through the following issues:

Vader Down, Part 1 (11/18/15)

Darth Vader #13 (11/25/15)

Star Wars #13 (12/2/15)

Darth Vader #14 (12/23/15)

Star Wars #14 (1/6/16)

Darth Vader #15 (1/6/16)

As a whole, VADER DOWN was just alright. I’m glad I followed the whole thing even though I felt slightly unfulfilled when it concluded. It’s hard not to have really high expectations when you think about Darth Vader facing the entire Rebel army alone. In reality, the six issues seemed to spend more time on the other characters. I get that the whole reason Vader crashed on the planet was because of Luke (in a great kamikaze move), but I sort of expected more of the focus to be on the actual Sith Lord. Fortunately, the scenes where he does face the rebel army were well done.

The best moments came from the terrifying confidence Vader exudes. When told to surrender because he’s surrounded, he replies, “All I am surrounded by is fear and dead men.” In all later moment Leia tells him that he and the Emperor will lose this war. Darth Vader responds something to the effect of, “men like the Emperor and I are above war. This is nothing but a series of executions.” The dialogue in these moments couldn’t possibly be better. I can practically hear James Earl Jones reading those lines.

One of the largest obstacles in comics is delivering the and appropriate balance of action and individual achievement while contributing to a larger story. VADER DOWN could be a much better read as a trade paper (preorder link above the picture) since it’s all there as one cohesive story. My first instinct was to give this 6 out of 10…. but Vader always gets bonus points with me!

My rating of the STAR WARS: VADER DOWN full crossover series is 7 out of 10.